The nuts and raisins add to the unique texture. This poppy seed cake was inspired by the Polish “makowiec”, which traditionally does involves flour – most commonly as dough rolled around the poppy seed filling, or as a cake layer above or below it (often both).

Here, there’s only the delicious, slightly nutty poppy seed goodness, making this cake a delightful grain and gluten-free treat.

Preparation:

*Poppy Seed Mixture:

To start, you need to grind the poppy seeds. The easiest method would be to use a traditional poppy seed grinder. But that’s not exactly something most of us have lying around. Alternatives include: meat grinder (cook the poppy seeds first, as per below), coffee grinder (grind raw, then cook), and blender (cook the seeds first). Personally, I had good results with a food processor, after cooking the poppy seeds first and adding half the honey. If I had either a poppy seed or meat grinder, I would’ve used those. Otherwise, I recommend using a food processor as follows:

1. In a small pot, cover poppy seeds with water. Bring to a boil and cook over low heat until all of the water has evaporated (approximately 30 minutes). Stir very frequently.

2. Transfer poppy seeds to the food processor. Add 1/4 cup of the honey. Process well, stopping often to scrape down the sides and help move the poppy seeds along.

3. Boil some water to plump the raisins. In a small bowl, cover raisins with just boiled water and let stand for 5 minutes, or until raisins are plump. Drain well.

4. Add the walnuts and raisins to the poppy seeds and whir the processor a couple of times to combine and lightly chop the raisins and walnuts.

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line bottom of 9” springform pan with parchment paper (trace bottom of pan onto parchment paper, and cut it out using scissors). Grease bottom of pan and bottom of parchment paper with butter.

3. Beat the butter and honey (either the remaining half if already used first half in the food processor, or the whole amount) in a large bowl until well combined.

4. Add in egg yolks one at a time. Beat until well combined.

5. Add in vanilla and lemon zest. Beat briefly just until combined.

6. Stir in the poppy seed mixture.

7. Whisk the egg whites in a separate large bowl, with a pinch of salt, until stiff peaks form.